Dr Heather Sharp

Career Summary

Biography

Dr Heather Sharp was awarded a competitive residency Fellowship to the prestige Georg Eckert Institute in Germany, 2016. During this Fellowship, Heather researched ways educational media is used in History classrooms, innovative ways to teach history using ICT, and engaged in an analyse of national identity representations in History textbooks.

Heather Sharp is a Senior Lecturer and First Year Support Convenor at the School of Education, convenor of the History Network for Teachers and Researchers (HNTR); and a Special Issues Editor of Historical Encounters. Her current research investigates the teaching of difficult and controversial pasts, the influence of public history in teaching, historical representations in school curriculum, particularly textbooks and also examines the written and visual texts in picture books that deal with conflict.

Heather’s research has also included analysis of the representations of Indigenous Australians and British heritages in History textbooks across selected time periods of the Twentieth Century; and more recently, the exploration of competing representations of Gallipoli in Australian and Turkish history textbooks. Heather’s scholarship has adopted a bricolage approach that encompasses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), historical methodologies, and visual analysis techniques, framed within a Gramscian and Althusserian understanding of hegemony.

After working as a secondary school teacher (English and History) for a number of years, Heather began herUniversity career in January 2006. She has taught and coordinated Education courses in the areas of: transformative pedagogies, philosophies of education, History curriculum and pedagogies, literacies, education as a professional career, assessment, and professional experience.

Research ExpertiseDr Sharp's PhD is titled: Constructing history: Selective representations of Indigenous Australians and British heritages in Queensland History curriculum. The research was conducted through a bricolage approach, encompassing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), historical methodologies, visual analysis techniques and framed within an understanding of hegemony as espoused by Gramsci and Althusser. The thesis analysed representations of Indigenous Australians and British heritages in History textbooks across selected time periods of the twentieth century.

I also conduct research on academic and undergraduate student research partnerships. This explores the power relationships, cognitive benefits and socialising impacts that occur when academics and students work together, outside of official university courses. Beginning teacher induction is an area I have researched, specifically investigating the connection between expectations of professional support and the realities beginning teachers experience in a school setting.

Teaching ExpertiseHeather has the following university teaching expertise: supervisor of PhD, Honours and Masters students; course coordination of undergraduate and post-graduate courses; lecturing and tutoring of courses across secondary, primary and middle school degree programs. I have also coordinated programs for Research Higher Degree students who wish to embark on an academic career. I am currently the First Year Experiences Convenor for the School of Education.

Qualifications

PhD, University of Southern Queensland

Bachelor of Education, Queensland University of Technology

Bachelor of Arts, Queensland University of Technology

Master of Education, Deakin University

Graduate Certificate Practice of Tertiary Teaching, University of Newcastle

Research Supervision

Number of supervisions

Total current UON EFTSL

Current Supervision

The Use of Alternative Assessment in English as Second Language Subject

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2017

PhD

Digital Learning in a Traditionally Lecture Driven Subject: How Might Teachers of History Use Digital Technology With the Aim of Improving Student Outcomes in Assessments of Historical Knowledge, Understanding and Skill?

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Principal Supervisor

2017

PhD

Memorials That Teach: Using the Anzac Legend to Create Historically Literate Learners

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Principal Supervisor

2017

PhD

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Art, Science and Education: Fostering a Sense of Wonder and Curiosity About the Natural World Through Scientific Inquiry and Illustration.

PhD (Natural History Illustr), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2016

PhD

Emergence, representation and reception of education policy in Nepal

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2016

PhD

New Media Histories: Evaluating Historical Representation in the Digital Age - Implications for the History Classroom

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2016

Masters

History Teaching in Ghanaian Senior High Schools: Towards a Learner Centered History Curriculum

M Philosophy (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2016

PhD

And What About Jane? A Rationale For The Teaching of Jane Austen in Secondary English Classrooms.

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2015

PhD

ICT AND PRE-SERVICE EFL TEACHER EDUCATION IN VIETNAM

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2015

PhD

History education in Vietnamese schools from 1986 to present

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2014

PhD

A Vertical Case Study to Compare the Dominant Policy and ground level Understanding of Education and Development

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2014

PhD

The Impact of Interactive CALL Software on EFL Learners' Autonomy and Language Proficiency through out-of-Class Practice

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2014

PhD

Factors Affecting Early Career Teachers' Formation of E-Learning Pedagogy in the History Classroom

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle

Co-Supervisor

2013

PhD

Promoting ICT Integration in Indonesian EFL Classroom Through In-service Teacher Professional Development

PhD (Education), Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle